CHAPTER XV

THE SHIP

At last the ship came, and lay off Phokea, outside the Gulf of Smyrna.

We went off in tugs, out of that lovely bay, more beautiful, to my mind, than the bay of Naples, and we went on board the Australian hospital ship "Kanowna," where they gave us a royal welcome.

This was the 1st of November, 1918.

_August the 9th_, 1915--_November the 1st_, 1918.

They had many cots prepared, expecting many sick and cripples. They asked as we came on board where the sick were, and we replied that they were dead.

Phokea was a beautiful little Greek town when war broke out; it has vineyards and olive groves behind it, and it looks out on the bluest of bays. It had once been inhabited by Greek subjects of the Turks, but now it lay bare and empty, with hollow windows staring at the sea. There was an old Englishman on board, a civilian who had been many years in Smyrna, and him I asked why it lay thus desolate. "When the Turks declared a Jihad," he said, "a holy war, soldiers and a rabble came to Phokea, and crucified the Greek men upon olive trees; the women they raped and then cut their hands and feet off. What happened to the children I do not know."

There our last sun set on Turkey, and we steamed away to the South.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The complete figures, according to information received up to 25th October:--

BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR IN TURKEY.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |Believed |Repatriated,| | | Still |captured.|Escaped, or | Died. |Untraced.|prisoners. | | Released. | | | ------------------+---------+------------+-------+---------+---------- Officers-- | | | | | British | 472 | 43 | 14 | None | 415 Indian | 231 | 7 | 7 | None | 217 |---------+------------+-------+---------+---------- Total officers | 703 | 50 | 21 | None | 632 | | | | | Other ranks-- | | | | | British | 4,932 | 279 | 1,840 | 449 | 2,364 Indian | 10,948 | 1,177 | 1,429 | 1,773 | 6,569 |---------+------------+-------+---------+---------- Total other ranks | 15,880 | 1,456 | 3,269 | 2,222 | 8,933 | | | | | Total all ranks | 16,583 | 1,506 | 3,290 | 2,222 | 9,565 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

[2] A fellow prisoner, who was kind enough to read through the MS. of this book for me, contributes the following note:--

"To do our difficulties justice I think you ought to say that besides the loss of value of paper against gold, the rise of prices reduced the purchasing power of the LTq to _one-twentieth_ of what it was in the summer of 1915. This is strictly true. I have a list of the prices of ordinary commodities up to Spring, 1918. Actually the purchasing value of L20 from England was between twenty and twenty-four shillings in the winter 1917-18 as compared to the early Autumn, 1915."--A.D.P.

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_

POEMS IN CAPTIVITY

Crown 8vo. +7s. 6d.+ net.

John Still was captured by the Turks in Gallipoli in 1915, and remained in captivity for over three years, during which he found it essential to have some absorbing mental occupation to preserve his sanity. He discovered in himself then, for the first time, the power of writing verse. For many years before the war he lived in Ceylon, and the latter part of the book is taken up with poems on its peoples and lost cities, the first part containing the poems inspired by captivity.

_Morning Post._--"The poems have a quiet power that grows on the reader."

_Nation._--"Such excellent reading."

_Illustrated London News._--"One of the most interesting books of war-verse which have yet appeared."

_Outlook._--"'The Ballad of Suvla Bay' is among the finest poems of the war."

_Daily Graphic._--"Mr. Still has an unusual command of varied form."

_Book Monthly._--"Mr. Still's verse is charged with the full ripening of poetic harvest."

_Pall Mall Gazette._--"Mr. Still is distinctly happy in expression, and his work has a very real interest."

_Scotsman._--"This remarkable volume."

_Athenaeum._--"Undeniably interesting."

_Bookman._--"Mr. Still is a poet of considerable worth."

_Ladies' Field._--"It contains very splendid verse. The strength and simplicity of them will appeal to a big public."

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. 1

THE ROAD TO EN-DOR

_Being an Account of how two prisoners of War at Yozgad in Turkey won their way to freedom._

By E. H. JONES, Lieut. Indian Army Reserve

With Illustrations by C. W. HILL, Lieut. R.A.F.

Third Edition. Crown 8vo. +8s. 6d.+ net.

This book, besides being an extraordinary story, will specially appeal to every one who is interested in spiritualism. It tells in minute and exact detail how two young British officers, who previously knew nothing of the subject, took up spiritualism--originally to amuse their fellow-prisoners in a Turkish prison camp; how they afterwards convinced not only the Turkish officials of their mediumistic powers, but even their fellow-officers; how eventually the "spook" ran the camp, securing many privileges for the inmates, and finally nearly effected the escape of the mediums and kidnapped the Turkish Governor and Interpreter. Afterwards the two officers feigned madness so effectually that they were repatriated on compassionate grounds as insane, and had some difficulty in convincing the British authorities of their sanity. The book reads like a wild romance, but it is authenticated in every detail by fellow-officers and official documents. The Turkish Governor was actually court-martialled for his part in a treasure hunt instituted by the "spook"; and since the Armistice the authors have received letters from Turkish officials asking them to return and persist in the search for the hidden treasure.

_Morning Post._--"It is easily the most surprising story of the escape of prisoners of war which has yet appeared.... No more effective exposure of the methods of the medium has ever been written.... This book is indeed an invaluable reduction to absurdity of the claims of the spiritualist coteries."

_Daily Telegraph._--"This is one of the most realistic, grimmest, and at the same time most entertaining, books ever given to the public.... 'The Road to En-dor' is a book with a thrill on every page, is full of genuine adventure.... Everybody should read it."

_Times._--"Astounding.... Of great value."

_Punch._--"The most extraordinary war-tale which has come my way."

_Birmingham Post._--"The story of surely the most colossal 'fake' of modern times."

_Daily Graphic._--"The most amazing story of the war."

_Outlook._--"It deserves to become a classic."

_Evening News._--"The tale of the two lieutenants is perhaps the noblest example of the game and fine art of spoof that the world has ever seen, or ever will see ... their wonderful and almost monstrous elaboration ... an amazing story."

_Bystander._--"The book reads like the wildest romance."

_Glasgow Evening News._--"An absolutely fresh, unexpected, and inimitable true story of what we fancy is the greatest spoof of the Great War."

_Everyman._--"One of the most amazing tales that we have ever read. The gradual augmentation of the spook's power is one of the most preposterous, the most laughable histories in the whole literature of spoofing. Lieut. Jones has given us a wonderful book--even a great book."

_New Statesman._--"This amazing story is told in great detail, but never tedious."

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. 1

THE SILENCE OF COLONEL BRAMBLE

By ANDRE MAUROIS

Second Edition. +5s.+ net.

_Westminster Gazette._--"'The Silence of Colonel Bramble' is the best composite character sketch I have seen to show France what the English gentleman at war is like ... much delightful humour.... It is full of good stories.... The translator appears to have done his work wonderfully well."

_Daily Telegraph._--"This book has enjoyed a great success in France, and it will be an extraordinary thing if it is not equally successful here.... Those who do not already know the book in French will lose nothing of its charm in English form. The humours of the mess-room are inimitable.... The whole thing is real, alive, sympathetic; there is not a false touch in all its delicate, glancing wit.... One need not be a Frenchman to appreciate its wisdom and its penetrating truth."

_Star._--"An excellent translation ... a gay and daring translation ... I laughed over its audacious humour."

_Times._--"This admirable French picture of English officers."

_Daily Graphic._--"A triumph of sympathetic observation ... delightful book ... many moving passages."

_Daily Mail._--"So good as to be no less amusing than the original.... This is one of the finest feats of modern translation that I know. The book gives one a better idea of the war than any other book I can recall.... Among many comical disputes the funniest is that about superstitions. That really is, in mess language, 'A scream.'"

_New Statesman._--"The whole is of a piece charmingly harmonious in tone and closely woven together.... The book has a perfect ending.... Few living writers achieve so great a range of sentiment, with so uniformly light and unassuming a manner."

_Observer._--"The flavour of M. Maurois' humour loses little in this translation.... The admirable verisimilitude of the dialogue.... M. Maurois' humorous gift is unusually varied.... He tells a good story with great vivacity."

Holbrook Jackson in the _National News_.--"The Colonel is an eternal delight.... I put the volume under my arm, started reading it on the way home, and continued reading until I had finished the same evening.... That ought to be sufficient recommendation for any book...."

_Times Lit. Supplement._--(Review of French Edition.)--"M. Maurois ... is indeed so good an artist and so excellent an observer that we would not for worlds spoil his hand, or do more than merely introduce to English readers by far the most interesting and amusing group of British officers that we have met in books since the war began."

_Gentlewoman._--"The translation of this book is so splendidly done that it seems impossible that it can be a translation.... One of the very few war books which survive Peace.... This is one of the few war books that will not collect dust on the bookshelf."

James Milne in the _Graphic_.--"It is all very wise and very charming."

_Morning Post._--"This gently-humorous little book.... Half-an-hour with Colonel Bramble and his entertaining friends will stop you worrying for a whole day."

_Saturday Review._--"The wittiest book of comment on warfare and our national prejudices that we have yet seen."

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. 1

A KUT PRISONER

By Lieut. H. C. W. BISHOP. Illustrated. +6s. 6d.+ net.

This book is the remarkable story of the first three British officers to escape from a Turkish prison camp. It contains a description of the siege and the march of 1,700 miles to Kastamuni; of their capture, escape, and dramatic rescue, and finally the voyage in an open boat to Alupka, in the Crimea.

SONNETS FROM A PRISON CAMP

By ARCHIBALD ALLAN BOWMAN

Crown 8vo. +5s.+ net.

This book falls naturally in two parts; the first is a sonnet sequence describing the author's capture with his battalion in the great March Offensive, his weary tramp as a prisoner, and internment in a German camp; the second consists of a series of meditative sonnets on theses inevitably suggested by close confinement. The poems show great promise, their intense sincerity being foremost among their merits.

_Morning Post._--"Mr. Bowman's rich and dignified sonnets."

_Scotsman._--"There is only one possible verdict on this volume--well done."

SAPPER DOROTHY LAWRENCE

THE ONLY ENGLISH WOMAN SOLDIER

_Late Royal Engineers, 51st Division, 179th Tunnelling Coy., B.E.F._

With Portraits. Crown 8vo. +5s.+ net.

_Daily Mail._--"Her very astonishing tale ... an extraordinary performance."

_Daily Chronicle._--"Miss Lawrence's book is interesting and well done."

_Scotsman._--"Her exploit supplies the materials for a fine tale of adventure, and she tells her story uncommonly well."

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. 1